(Photo by http://www.SteveEichelberger.com)
Inside Line Promotions – ELDON, Mo. (May 15, 2018) – Mason Daniel continues to progress each week during his rookie season behind the wheel of a 360ci winged sprint car.
Daniel, who netted his first career top-10 result two weeks ago during his sixth career sprint car start, took another leap forward last Saturday at Lake Ozark Speedway, where he captured his first-ever top-five finish.
“We’ve been making progress, but the whole team has high expectations,” he said. “A top five was good. Now we’re trying to break into the top three and then get a win soon.”
Daniel opened the night by advancing from fifth to fourth place during a heat race. That lined him up on the outside of the fifth row for the A Main.
“For about the first 16 laps I wasn’t running the fastest line,” he said. “Then we moved to the bottom and were fast. I moved my wing down and then we had a yellow come out. I restarted ninth. Right after that I drove up to fifth and challenged for fourth place the last couple of laps.”
The fifth-place finish gives Daniel a 51-point lead in the Lake Ozark Speedway championship standings.
He kicked off last week’s action on Wednesday at Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, Kan., where Daniel placed sixth in a heat race before he advanced from 17th to 14th during the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour presented by SawBlade.com main event.
“I couldn’t really figure that small track out,” he said. “The track was a bit small for sprint cars. We got around two cars before the rubber came in. Then it was follow the leader.”
Daniel ventured to Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., the ensuing night for another ASCS National Tour show.
“We were fourth in hot laps and won our heat from third,” he said. “We had a great start to the night.”
Daniel’s first career ASCS National Tour heat race win locked him into the feature redraw. Unfortunately, he pulled the highest number – eight – to start the A Main on the outside of the fourth row.
“On the start I wasn’t aggressive enough and I went backwards,” he said. “The last six laps rubber kicked in and I caught the guys in front of me. I caught Logan Seavey and Johnny Herrera running the top. Logan cut down in front of me and that was the first time I’ve been at a half mile where air has a huge effect. I fell back a few car lengths and couldn’t really challenge them at the end.”
Daniel finished 12th, which was his career-best result with the ASCS National Tour.
He is slated to return to action this Saturday at Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Mo.
QUICK RESULTS –
May 9 – Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, Kan. – Heat race: 6 (5); Feature: 14 (17).
May 10 – Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. – Heat race: 1 (3); Feature: 12 (8).
May 12 – Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Mo. – Heat race: 4 (5); Feature: 5 (10).
SEASON STATS –
10 races, 0 wins, 1 top five, 3 top 10s, 6 top 15s, 8 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Mo.
MEDIA LINKS –
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MasonDRacing
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Fresno Truck Center
Fresno Truck Center is a truck dealership based in Fresno, Calif.
“They are a freightliner dealership that supply Young’s Commercial Transfer with trucks,” Daniel said. “They’ve always been interested in my racing and came on board this year to support us with the sprint car.”
Daniel would also like to thank Young’s Racing, Dillon Risk Management, Valley Pacific, Bell Helmets and Schoenfeld Headers for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on May 15, 2018
- Article Date: 5/15/2018 by Inside Line Promotions